Fig1. Employment rates, calculated as the ratio of the employed to the working age population.

Scandinavia rules- Iceland has highest percentage of employed individuals in the world at 80.9 %. In fact scandinavian countries fair very well, with Norway and Sweden joining Iceland in the top 4 countries. The remaining countries Denmark and Finland also follow closely in 11th and 14th position in the world rankings.

No space for the United Kingdom? The U.K narrowly misses out on a top 10 position. With 71.7 percent employment it comes close in 12th position.

Uneven distribution- Out of the top 10 countries, 7 of them are in Europe. Japan is Asia’s only representative. Whilst the Canada is the only country from the Americas.

Countries not so lucky- Notable countries that fall on the other side of the spectrum are; Turkey at 50 % employment, Greece at 49 % and South Africa with 43 %.

So what is the future for employment in the U.K? The Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development (CIPD) quarterly report suggests U.K employment will again grow strongly in the final quarter of 2014. According to the CIPD, fewer employers are looking to make redundancies, as well as an expected continuation of the trend for many employers to be hiring new staff. The U.K may well be back in the top 10 by next year.